


Renegade

by Caketin



Category: Fallout 4
Genre: Action/Adventure, Brotherhood of Steel (Fallout), Eventual Relationships, F/M, Original Character(s), Romance, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-08
Updated: 2019-05-01
Packaged: 2019-07-27 22:42:56
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 9,232
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16228802
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Caketin/pseuds/Caketin
Summary: Scout, a restless vault dweller about to sit her G.O.A.T, escapes her vault life with the help of Arthur Maxson. She finds herself in the rigorous routines of the Brotherhood of Steel but feels herself growing restless once again...





	1. Chapter One

Vault rooms were all similar. A standard family room had a double bed in one room, a bunk bed in yet another room and a small sitting area. Legs dangled out in front of Scout as she tuned her guitar on the bottom bunk. 

‘Have we got music class today?’ Lucy groaned from above her. 

‘Mhmm,’ Scout replied with an accompanying twang from her instrument. 

‘Urgh, so annoying,’ Lucy’s legs disappeared from in front of Scout. She felt her lie back on her bed. 

‘You say that about every class Lucy,’ Scout said exasperated, but there was amusement in her voice. 

‘Yes well I just want to get the G.O.A.T over and done with, how can I concentrate on music when it’s tomorrow?’ her head appeared upside down in front of Scout, a curtain of wispy blonde hair surrounding her like a cloud. 

Scout put her guitar aside. 

‘Well I think it’s a good distraction,’ grabbing her nearby pipboy she strapped it on, checking the time as she did. 

‘You find advanced chemistry a good distraction,’ Lucy huffed and returned to the confines of her bunk. 

‘We should probably go if we don’t want to miss breakfast,’ Scout ignored her previous comment. 

‘I think I’ll have porridge this morning,’ Lucy lowered herself down from the bunk with a small jump, not bothering with the ladder. 

‘You go ahead, I’ll catch up,’ Scout busied herself with some notebooks under her bed. 

‘Fine,’ Lucy swept out of the room, unfazed. 

‘Save me some porridge!’ Scout called out as she heard the mechanics to their family suite door shut. 

She only had a few minutes to herself every morning, Lucy knew something was up but had decided it was better not to be in on Scout’s schemes. 

All vault rooms were similar, and they all had the same blind spot. Scout had a small ham radio under her bed, hidden by notebooks, random bits of junk and an old vault suit that no longer fit her. 

It had taken a whole year for her to fix it, sneaking around to find the right parts and waiting to be alone so she could obscure herself from the Overseer’s potential gaze. At first she hadn’t thought much about it, just a silly experiment to see if she could fix it. She’d tried it every morning, sending out morse code signals, wondering if anyone might be around. Nobody from the vault had been outside. Not for generations. Nobody except for her, when she’d been left as a baby outside the vault door. 

There had been nothing for three months. Not a peep. Soon it had become a force of habit rather than actually expecting anything to come of it. Until this week. She’d clumsily thrown the radio up out of her lap in alarm when she’d heard a code back. Scrambling for a notepad and pen she’d had to ask the respondent to repeat their message with shaking hands. 

They’d spoken every morning for nearly four days and as she put her message through this morning, she suspected whoever was on the other side was close enough to speak over the short-wave frequencies – but she didn’t dare risk it. 

‘Close to the vault,’ she sent through in a series of tones. 

‘I want to come inside,’ was the response. Scout took a deep breath. She half wondered, if they could get in, would she be able to get out? She was too frightened to even fully comprehend the thought, but it still sent a thrill through her. 

‘They won’t let you inside,’ she managed to send through, knowing she’d have to leave for breakfast in a moment. The conversations were always painfully short.

‘They will let me in,’ she put her notepad and pen down, staring back down at the message she’d just translated. She could almost imagine the kind of person who send that message back, a brave and rugged wastelander, a world away from the people here. 

It didn’t matter though, she thought as she shoved the radio far beneath her bed. There was no way they would ever let somebody in. 

***

‘Please try to ensure you’re on time tomorrow at least Miss Scout,’ Mr Blunt, the vault school teacher scolded her as she rushed into the classroom late, a smear of porridge down the front of her vault suit from her trying to shovel it in at lightning speed. 

‘Sorry,’ she muttered, hastily taking a seat. Her tardiness no longer drew stares from her classmates, but Lucy threw her a look that said ‘again?’. She shrugged and sheepishly grinned back. 

‘As I was saying,’ Mr Blunt continued, frowning at Scout, ‘tomorrow you’ll be sitting the G.O.A.T, otherwise known as the Genera-‘

‘Generalized Occupational Aptitude Test,’ Scout interrupted, ‘we know,’ she rolled her eyes. 

Mr Blunt pursed his lips at Scout but decided to let it slide. He was a portly man with a thicket of wiry brown hair and matching eyebrows. He didn’t exactly inspire fear in Scout. 

‘Yes well, thank you for that Miss Scout, the nature of this test means I cannot give any guidance as to what to study,’ he gave everyone a sympathetic gaze, except for Scout who was scowling. 

‘So today we’ll be continuing with trigonometry and stoichiometry before you move onto your extra-curricular activities in the afternoon. I suggest you all try to put the G.O.A.T far from your minds and just focus on your work,’ 

***

‘Scout, how in the world do you concentrate on your work with your hair like that?’ Jenny, one of Lucy’s friends asked her as they all sat down to lunch. In Scout’s mind all the girls she sat with were all Lucy’s friends. Lucy, who was of course beautiful and popular and to add insult to injury, also the kindest person in the vault.  
Scout shrugged, picking tomatoes off her sandwich. Her hair wasn’t like Lucy’s, it didn’t sit flat and it didn’t fold itself up in soft curls at the ends. It was a tawny, thick mass of hair which just seemed to sit large and frizzy no matter how much she combed it. 

‘I need you to braid it for me Lucy,’ she said through a mouthful food. The girls at the table frowned at her inelegance. Scout knew she wouldn’t have any friends if it wasn’t for Lucy. She didn’t care that they thought she was uncouth sometimes though, despite Lucy imploring her many times to take more care with appearance and toning down her interest in science and mechanics, she just couldn’t help herself. If she ate quickly enough she could duck to her radio before afternoon activities started. 

‘You don’t hold still long enough for me to do your hair,’ Lucy teased her, complete with a soft tinkering laugh with no hint of malice. 

‘Gotta go!,’ Scout managed to say whilst trying to chew her very full mouthful. 

Dashing from the dining room she noticed it seemed somewhat empty. She couldn’t place why though so she continued on her way to the residential wing. This meant going through the vast and expansive atrium. 

When she reached the atrium, it was also empty. She paused for moment. Sure most people were at lunch but there would at least be security here. There was nobody. Come to think of it, she realised, it was the security personnel that had been missing from the dining room. 

Rocking back and forth on her heels she contemplated either rushing to her room and getting on her radio or doing something really stupid. 

‘Oh well c’mon then,’ she finally said to herself, figuring she could come up with some other excuse for heading up to the Overseers office. 

Yet when she reached foyer of the Overseer's office, she found didn’t need an excuse. There was no security and, even more alarming, the Overseer’s door was left open. Wondering what might be happening, Scout cautiously entered the room. She knew the code to the separate room with all the security screens, she’d help fix it once. Hoping it hadn’t been changed, and that nobody was inside monitoring them she quickly pinned in the numbers ‘216’ before she could change her mind. 

She loosed a breath - it was empty. Scanning the surveillance monitors it didn’t take long for her locate what was keeping the Overseer and all the security so busy.  
Whoever she’d been talking to on the radio was right. They were being let into the vault.


	2. Chapter Two

Whatever he had been expecting. It certainly wasn’t her.

It was probably about midnight and little to his surprise, the door to his room in the hospital had been jimmied open. A ghostly figure stepped through, but that didn’t mean anything, they all looked like ghosts here, their skin had never seen sun. She had mass of brunette hair, large eyes and a thin mouth which was pressed in such a hard line he could barely see it. He guessed she was quite young, probably even younger than him, but also short for her age. 

‘I suspect you’re the person I’ve been talking to on-’ a hand was clasped over his mouth in an instant. The girl had rushed to his bedside, eyes even larger now with panic. She waited a moment before removing her hand, he could feel it trembling on his lips. She took a deep breath. 

‘Our vault has state of the art audio and visual surveillance, I guess you’re probably not used to such technology?’ she tried to ask him casually, but her voice wavered.   
They could be watching and listening to us was what she was trying to tell him. He nodded thoughtfully before choosing his next words. 

‘My name is Arthur,’ he decided to tell her, and smiled, ‘Arthur Maxson,’. 

She frowned, not returning the smile. 

‘I’m Scout,’ she said shortly. 

‘Just Scout?’ he laughed a little and then winced. _Ouch, that felt like a rib_. 

‘Yeah,’ was all she said before glancing around nervously and biting her nails. 

‘Don’t you want to know how I got in here?’ he asked her, struggling to sit up straight. 

She eyed him warily, suspicious. Perhaps he wasn’t what she had in mind either. 

‘By nefarious means quite likely but I don’t think they’ll let you back out,’ she said darkly. 

Arthur laughed a little again, despite the pain. _Was definitely a broken rib in there_. He felt quite bruised as well. 

‘It actually wasn’t that hard – once I found the damn place. You know this vault isn’t on any of the Brotherhood’s records? I was quite surprised when I uh – found it.’ He told her, starting to pat himself down to assess the damage. They’d taken his clothes but he was relieved to find his holotags still around his neck. 

‘Anyway – the door actually opened from the outside. The security just inside the door though? Not so easy,’ he lifted his shirt up and saw the extent of the bruising. It certainly wasn’t pretty. Ah well, he’d been through worse. 

‘Brotherhood?’ she asked, confused but absent-minded. She glanced around again. It was evident she was expecting them to be interrupted at any moment.   
‘That’s a loaded question,’ he chuckled, lowering his shirt and his body back down on the bed. Sensing that Scout was skittish, he started tapping one of his fingers on the side of the bedframe. He repeated the pattern a couple of times before Scout got up and went to leave the room. She paused briefly at the door and then disappeared. 

***

Scout hadn’t slept at all last night. Pacing their small room she checked her pipboy – 7.46am. She’d just told Lucy not to bother waiting for her at breakfast. Lucy, suspecting that Scout was nervous about the G.O.A.T, had just given her affectionate squeeze on the shoulder and told her she would do fine. _Oh Lucy, if only you knew_. Scout had wanted to tell her, but couldn’t risk the Overseer hearing. 

She’d translated the message about twenty times, one of her notebooks had the code scrawled everywhere. She hadn’t made a mistake, the message was clear. Run eight. 

Taking a deep ragged breath, she looked around her room, possibly for the last time. She didn’t have a bag she could pack – there was no need for one in the vault. Her vault suit had no pockets. If she left, she left with her pipboy and nothing else. Her pipboy told her it was 7.50am. 

Not really believing what she was doing, she let her feet take her to the hospital room that held Arthur Maxson. She knew there would be security there this morning and prayed that nobody had fixed the door since she’d tampered with it last night. 

‘Scout, shouldn’t you be getting ready to sit your G.O.A.T?’ the security guard at Arthur’s room asked her. 

‘Jenkins asked me to check out this door real quick – said it was important?’ She hoped she sounded nonchalant. 

‘Ah good, couldn’t make heads or tails of it myself,’ the guard did sound relieved, and stepped aside to let her into the doorway. 

Arthur was inside, he was pulling on his clothes which were still dusty. A couple of pillows had been shoved into the bed to make it look like a person was in there. 

Scout looked away, embarrassed and pretended to look at the door mechanism. After a few moments she looked back at Arthur, dressed and ready to go, he nodded to her. Scout nodded back but briefly held up her hand to pause him a moment. 

‘Hey – would you mind holding this wire for me?’ she asked the security guard, motioning for Arthur to get closer to her. 

‘Sure thing Scout,’ not suspecting a thing, he ducked inside the room, not noticing Arthur behind Scout. They slipped out as soon as he was inside. Scout quickly hit the power box to the door as hard as she could and the door's hydraulics spluttered before slamming shut. She knew it would take maintenance some time to figure out how to open it. 

‘We don’t have much time,’ she gasped and they took off. 

The next few minutes felt like a lifetime. While her classmates were probably just beginning the G.O.A.T, she was sprinting through the vault. 

The echoes of the guard yelling ‘Hey! HEY!’ and banging on the door were ringing in her ears as she led Arthur through the various hallways. 

By the time they reached the atrium she felt a stitch in her ribs, she gasped desperately for air. There was no time to stop though, they could hear guards behind them. She had no idea how they would get past the security in the atrium. 

‘Get here,’ Arthur growled and pulled her behind some maintenance equipment that was bulky enough to obscure them. She could barely hear anything over the sound of her panting, which she thought would be enough to give them away. 

Evidently the guards she could hear were actually heading towards the hospital, attracted by the yells of the guard and assuming Arthur was still in there with him. It would be a matter of minutes before they realised though. Hearing footsteps, the security guards from the atrium and exit zone ran past them. 

It was now or never. Arthur turned to her and grinning, grabbed her hand as they began to flee once again. 

_I just need to get the door open, I just need to get the door open_. She knew the exit zone would shut off if she could just get the door mechanism activated.   
It felt like her chest was going to explode. She had never run so hard in her life. She briefly turned to Arthur next to her, who managed to smile despite their escape attempt. They had just about reached the exit zone. For the first time, it really hit her that this could actually work. She might be escaping the vault. 

Sooner than she anticipated, they had reached the exit zone. She didn’t have any time to second guess what she doing. Instinct had taken over and she flung herself at the terminal, plugging in her pipboy. 

‘Scout,’ Arthur turned to her nervously, they could hear the guards approaching. 

‘C’mon, c’mon’ she tapped away at the terminal furiously until – 

‘Scout!’ Arthur yelled.

But the exit zone sprang to life, lights flashed and a deafening buzzing noise filled the room. The door to the exit zone shut. 

‘Oh,’ Scout clasped her hands over her mouth. She hadn’t really expected this to work at all, the enormity of what she was about to do brought her to her knees.   
‘We gotta go,’ Arthur yelled at her over the din, pulling her up onto her feet again. Stumbling, he pulled her to the elevator, the door shut promptly behind them and soon after, their ascent began. 

Scout looked down at her shaking hands. She felt silent tears slide down her face, she hadn’t realised she was crying. 

‘Nothing – I have nothing,’ she managed to choke out. 

‘Hey it’s okay,’ Arthur took her hands into his, pressing something into them. 

‘You have the Brotherhood,’ he squeezed her hands before letting go, clasping them in front of himself and looking up, waiting to reach the opening which was just a faint prick of light. 

Scout looked down at her hands, opening them to reveal what he’d given her. She ran the metal of his holotags through her fingers, before placing them around her neck.


	3. Chapter 3

She could not stop staring at _it_.

The sun.

Her new overseer was gold and glowing. She watched as it gave birth to a new day and was baptised in its warmth. 

Shutting her weary eyes, the sun burned a round image behind her lids. She didn’t care that it stung, it was the only thing watching her now. Well, the sun, and _him_.

‘You really shouldn’t stare right at it you know,’ she still had her eyes closed but she could feel his stern gaze on her. For somebody the same age as her, he had an oddly commanding presence. Not that she was scared of him, though perhaps she should have been – his scars told her that much. No, there was no fear, there was just something in the way he spoke that made her want to listen. The same easy confidence that had brought him into Vault, assuring her that he, unlike any other that might stumble in, would make it back out. As he had willed it, so it had been.

Blinking her eyes open, feeling slightly dazed, she met his eyes. He was shielding them from the sun. 

He smiled at her. 

Despite the growing warmth she shivered. It was like the sun had stepped back for a moment and something in Scout told her she would remember this moment for a very long time, perhaps far longer than what her first taste of sunlight felt like. The way he smiled at her eclipsed her new messiah and for just a moment, Arthur Maxson became a god. 

‘I don’t think I’ll ever get sick of seeing the sunrise,’ she sighed, dragging her eyes away from him. 

‘I’ll see if you still hold that sentiment after a month of early morning drills,’ he drawled. 

‘Nope even then, I’ll still enjoy it,’ she assured him. 

Arthur stopped and dropped his pack. 

‘Sorry, I’ll just be a moment,’ he pulled out a roughly drawn map and unfolded it, gazing around. 

Scout looked at her pipboy, checking to see if her map settings worked on the surface. 

‘I think we’re here,’ he pointed at the map frowning, ‘I got a little mixed around trying to find the vault truth be told,’

‘You’re not far off,’ Scout admitted and showed him her pipboy. 

‘Well well well,’ he laughed and put away his map, ‘that’s pretty useful, can you set a path?’ 

Scout took a moment, turning a couple of the dials and pressing buttons. She’d never had to set a destination point in the vault. 

‘Oh yes, here we go,’ she showed it to him again, he put his hand over the personal computer so he could see the screen despite the sunlight. 

‘Where do you want to go?’ she asked him. 

Arthur took his time surveying the map. Scout frowned, hoping he had at least some clue of where they were going. 

‘Maybe here,’ he pointed to a point on the map.

‘Maybe?’ Scout queried, ‘surely you know where the Brotherhood headquarters or whatever it’s called are?’

‘The Citadel? Yeah it’s over here,’ he showed her, ‘but we’re not headed there just yet,’ he explained, grinning a little mischievously. 

‘But you don’t know exactly where you’re going?’ 

‘Not exactly no, I was looking for a group called the Outcasts on the radio when I came across your signal.’ Arthur put his pack back on and they resumed walking. 

‘You weren’t looking for a vault? So why did you come into ours?’ Scout asked him, perplexed. She’d figured he’d found what he was looking for and gotten the hell out of dodge. 

‘Why else would you be on the radio, if you didn’t want to leave?’ he asked as if it were obvious. 

Scout was silent. Everything had happened so quickly. Sixteen-year-old girls weren’t known for making the best rash decisions and Scout could even admit to herself that she was more impulsive than most. A kind of darkness overtook her, if she’d had time to properly consider it, would she have left? She wasn’t so sure, but one thing was certain, there was no way she could go back. 

‘So we’re just going to wander around until we find these Outcasts?’ Scout wondered dubiously. Mimicking him, she raised her hand to shield her eyes from the sun, casting her eyes the farthest they’d been. They’d had to climb through a fair bit of rubble to get out of the entrance to the vault. The building it had evidently once been in was clearly quite stand-alone in the wastes but she could see some buildings not too far away. 

‘We’ll hole up somewhere nearby, I think you might get sick soon while your body adjusts to the radiation levels out here. I have it on reliable information that the Outcasts still run covert patrols, if we’re lucky they’ll find us,’ 

Scout certainly didn’t feel sick but wasn’t really in a position to argue. Besides, she wanted a chance to calibrate her pipboy map with his roughly drawn one. It suited her right now to stick with Arthur and she was curious to know about this Brotherhood. 

***

Later that evening they sat in an abandoned shack on the outskirts of what Arthur called the ‘D.C. ruins’ which Scout had marked in her map with a ‘city’ icon. It had seemed the closest thing to apt although the ruins were nothing like the cities she’d read about. There were no bustling streets with clamouring traffic, bright lights and busy people. She hadn’t expected there to be but it was easy to forget what the surface was like underneath a vault and mourned the death of city life a little all the same.

Arthur had positioned himself outside to watch for any Outcast patrols through the area. Expecting Scout to get sick he’d placed her carefully in the shack, making sure she wasn’t visible from the outside. She almost hoped that she got ill just so something interesting would happen. Slight pangs of hunger and thirst were her only bodily complaint though and even she was a little surprised that the radiation hadn’t had an effect yet. 

She set the last of her markers in the map, a place called ‘Megaton’ which she assumed was a township of some sort and having not used the icon very much, assigned ‘city’ to it as well. She regarded the map for a time, wondering where she should go. It wasn’t like the vault, you went to the bathroom when you needed to wash, the library when you wanted to read, the kitchen when you were hungry. Where did you go when you were hungry in this world?

She decided to close her eyes for a time, resting them from the screen. She slipped easily into sleep, not realising how weary she was. The shack was dark when she opened her eyes again. Arthur had not deigned to reappear but his pack was still nearby and unmoved so she didn’t panic. A deafening roar filled her ears and she realised the noise had woken her up. The shack was damp and she startled out of her assigned spot when water hit her. 

Standing up, panting slightly, Scout quieted her racing heart to get a grasp on what was happening. The noise didn’t seem so loud now, it was more a constant hum. She went to the entrance of the shack and laughed out loud when her boots made a squelch sound on the ground. The noise was _rain_. 

She forgot about Arthur, about her assigned spot and basically everything but the sun which she wished was present so that she could see the rain better. She strode out into the shower, closing her eyes and feeling the droplets sink through her hair and vault suit. 

‘Woah, hey there vaultie,’ a voice that wasn’t Arthur’s made her freeze on the spot. Stupidly she couldn’t muster the strength to turn around and look at whoever had addressed her. The voice had been older, male and seemingly friendly. 

‘Let’s say we get you someplace warm, you look like you just wandered straight out of a vault. Your skin is basically a beacon,’ the man chuckled. 

Scout managed to finally turn herself around but it felt like the water that had soaked into her suit had turned it to lead. The man looked a lot more intimidating than he had sounded and the sight of stunned her even more so into silence. The man was probably in his fifties but had a riot of ginger hair on top of his head as well as a thick mustache. He had as many wrinkles as he had scars and wore fatigues not unlike the ones Arthur had but also a thick metal chest plate with a splash of red on it. In her deluded, fear-stricken state, Scout thought to herself that he was well coordinated with his outfit. 

Suddenly she heard footsteps and turned in their direction. The stranger, frowning at her, followed her gaze and not long after Arthur appeared through the mist like an apparition. Scout breathed a sigh of relief. 

‘Scout! You should have stayed inside, the rain will make you sick!,’ Arthur exclaimed, chastising her as if she was a small child. She felt her face go a shade that probably matched the man’s hair.

‘You don’t look like you’re from a vault,’ the man gruffly said to Arthur, his demeanour suddenly hostile. Scout noticed he had a rather large gun at his side, a rifle of sorts, he placed his hand on it. 

‘I’m not, was only visiting,’ Arthur grinned, not at all fazed, ‘I’ve been looking for you though,’ 

‘I don’t know what you’ve heard about the Outcasts but we don’t buy slaves,’ the man growled, raising his gun. Scout dimly thought she should move away but her body was rooted to the spot. 

‘I’m not selling her,’ Arthur laughed, as if the man had made a joke, ‘I’m Arthur Maxson, I’ve been trying to find the Outcasts so we could talk,’ 

The man lowered his gun and took his time looking Arthur up and down. 

‘Well, I’ll be,’ he muttered, ‘I haven’t seen you since you were yay high,’ the man indicated with his hand, his voice sounded a little odd. 

‘I suppose you don’t remember me,’ he added. 

‘It’s hard to forget that hair, Knight Reginald Hume,’ Arthur strode over to the man and offered his hand. 

‘Best just to call me Reggie son,’ Reggie hesitated but took Arthur’s hand.

‘So how about that parlay?’ Arthur suggested, not letting go of Reggie’s hand. Reggie didn’t seem to care but finally he sighed and nodded his head. Arthur let go. 

‘S’pose I better get you kids inside anyway, follow me,’


	4. Chapter 4

The outcasts had kept her in their medical bay for three days, _three_! Having not been exposed to radiation they ran some bloods and waited for at least a touch of radiation sickness to hit her. It never did.   
On the third day Arthur strode into her room, he was barely taller than her but seemed larger than life.   
‘We’re off to the Citadel tomorrow,’ he didn’t bother greeting her, sitting on the end of the bed where she sat cross-legged at the top.   
‘Good, it’s dead boring here,’ she sniffed. Not exactly the topside adventure she’d been hoping for.   
‘We’re actually lucky to leave this soon, convincing the Outcasts was no walk in the vault but I thought we would have to wait until you were vaccinated,’   
‘Vaccinated?’ Scout asked, only mildly interested, picking at a loose thread on her bedspread.   
‘You already have the antigens in your system, even for some pretty rare stuff we don’t see often. Once we get back to the Citadel I was wondering if…?’   
‘Go ahead, if it helps others,’ Scout shrugged. She wasn’t born in the Vault, didn’t know who her parents were. It was unusual, but not impossible that her body already had the resistances it needed to survive on the outside.   
‘How long will it take us to get to the Citadel?’ she brightened at the thought.   
‘Usually just a day but we’ve got a fair bit of equipment to bring with us and small kids too so we’re going to take two days, three if we need it.’   
‘Can’t we go on ahead?’ Scout loathed the idea of having to crawl along at snail’s pace.  
‘It won’t be so bad, you need to get an idea of the lay of the land anyway,’ he was diplomatic, unfazed. Nothing seemed to faze Arthur that much, it all seemed within his reach.   
Scout rolled her eyes.  
‘I do have a map you know,’ but she sighed in resignation. Ah well, she thought, she would probably feel differently once she was out of this damn room anyway.  
‘Am I allowed to leave this room yet?’ she looked up for the first time, she hadn’t realised how close Arthur was sitting to her.   
‘You’re deemed safe for society,’ Arthur grinned.   
‘Bold move,’ Scout couldn’t help but smile back.

***

That night, gathered in a naked hall, they enjoyed an impromptu party. All of the perishables had to be used up and many of the supplies wouldn’t be able to be carried to the Citadel. There was even some wine and liquor.  
Scout had a glass of watered-down wine in her hand, she stood in a corner of the room, watching the crowd. She didn’t know anybody except Arthur and he was busy talking emphatically with who she supposed were the leaders.  
Eyes roaming, they snagged on the man who had found them, he was sitting in the opposite corner to her, tuning a battered acoustic guitar.  
‘Do you play?’ Scout asked eagerly as she approached him. He looked up in interest and his face softened when he recognised her.  
‘Not well, more of a crooner myself but it seemed a shame not to have music,’ Scout tried to hide her amusement, it seemed strange to think of this weather-beaten man as a singer.  
‘Good, I’ll strum and you sing,’ she held out her hands for the guitar. If he seemed surprised, his face didn’t show it. She sat gingerly on a nearby fold-out chair which looked like it had been chewed on by rats. The instrument felt foreign in her hands, it would have been the same dimensions of her one in the vault but it was still inexplicitly different. A scratch had marred the surface where her arm naturally rested to strum, but it was only superficial.  
It wasn’t too bad once she started to play, the strings hit her callouses in the same spots, the sound was a little different but maybe that was the acoustics. The deep baritone of Reggie accompanied her and soon a small crowd had gathered to listen to them.

***

‘I didn’t know you could play,’ Arthur led her to the room where they were sleeping. He’d managed to acquire a bedroll for her and had placed it quite close next to his. Scout raised her eyebrows but said nothing.  
‘You don’t really know me,’ she said truthfully. She was still holding the guitar, Reggie had said she could keep it but she wasn’t convinced she’d be allowed to cart it along to the Citadel.  
Arthur sat down on his own bedroll, they were in a small room which may have served storage purposes before but as everything had been packed up, it was hard to tell. She thought it was strange that they weren’t sleeping in the barracks but nobody said anything against what Arthur decided to do.  
‘No I don’t,’ he said, his lips quirking a little, ‘you don’t really know me either,’ he added.  
Scout placed the guitar down carefully and sat on her own bedroll. She now had three possessions, or four, if you counted the vault suit.  
‘What don’t I know about you Arthur Maxson?’ she asked him, realising it sounded a lot more flirtatious than she intended and cast her eyes down from his stare.  
She could feel him looking at her, as though the sun that shone within him, around him, was burning from his eyes and through her. She wondered if she glowed beneath his gaze.  
He let out a long sigh and she felt the warmth disappear, his line of sight shifted.  
‘My family, my ancestors, are the founders of the Brotherhood of Steel,’ he told her, still looking away. Scout glanced at him and could tell he was looking for the right words. This must have been the first time he would have had to tell anybody who he was, what he came from. She supposed she would choose her words carefully too.  
‘I never wanted to be leader,’ he smiled a little wryly, ‘I was a pretty quiet kid but I loved being out there, doing the hands on work.’ He paused for a moment, considering. Scout waited patiently.  
‘Things have been bad these past few years though. Mistakes were made and the Brotherhood has lost its direction and I don’t know why but I just started feeling like I was the only one who could see clearly the way forward,’ he was frowning now and seemed completely unaware of Scout, ‘I had to stop playing soldier, realise that somethings are bigger than ourselves,’ he turned to her, smiling now, ‘I wasn’t expecting to find you but I could tell you were something special,’ he took her hand now and Scout had to stop herself from snatching it back, he was burning hot and his grasp was branding her. His breathing hitched.  
‘I’m going to be made Elder when I get back and you’ll be working on a project you never could have imagined in the vault,’ Scout was hardly paying attention to his words, only the closeness of him, his touch, seemed to register.  
Drawn into orbit, she moved closer to him. He wasn’t smiling now but the last thing she saw was the blazing look in his eyes before he moved in to kiss her. 


	5. Chapter 5

Look, just up ahead, you can see the lights,’ Cutler pointed forward, a splattering of lights on a large, somewhat haphazard settlement could be seen in the distance and reflected in the water below it. It was dark, and Scout was grateful that their end goal was finally in sight.   
‘It’s going to be strange, being back there hey Danse?’ Cuter turned to his companion, both were in power armour so it was impossible to tell what Danse thought at all.   
‘I’m not one to question my superiors, but I can’t help but feel like getting posted here is a bit of a demotion,’ Danse responded. All he ever talked about was work. Scout could almost feel Cutler rolling his eyes.   
‘C’mon man, Maxson loves you, this is a great break before starting our new postings,’   
‘This isn’t a break, we still have work to do here,’ Danse was firm. Scout threw Cutler a look of suppressed laughter.   
Neither of them knew the true reason they were posted here, only Scout and Arthur knew the significance of her needing to be in Rivet City.   
‘How long until we get there?’ Scout directed this question at Danse, who was more like to give an accurate estimate rather than Cutler’s vague assurances of ‘oh not that long,’.  
‘If we keep this pace, eta is 2 hours,’ Danse responded immediately.   
‘Can we go faster?’ Scout asked. She was the only one not in power armour out of the trio but she preferred it that way, much easier to be nimble, slip into the shadows.   
‘Can we not? My knee plate is pinching again,’ Cutler grumbled.   
Time seemed to crawl by, Danse remained haughty and with the occasional complaint from Cutler the group focused on getting to Rivet City. The chill of the night started to seep into Scout’s bones and she began to look forward to a warm bed, or even better, a warm bar.   
Finally they reached the bridge and main checkpoint into the settlement. A Brotherhood scribe scrambled to his feet when he saw the paladins approaching.   
Scout had never seen such an enormous place, even the Citadel which had grown considerably in the two years since she had been there couldn’t compare. The vastness of her task seemed a little daunting now. Distracted by taking in the sights, she pulled out her holotags absent-mindedly, until coming to her senses with a cold realisation and shoving them back under her uniform. Cutler threw her a confused but somewhat amused look while Danse had his tags scanned. Scout steadied her breathing and pulled out her holotags again, making sure they were the correct ones.

***

‘Alright time for a drink,’ Cutler threw down his supplies unceremoniously, earning him a look of disapproval from Danse. They were in the cramped, but comfortable quarters that the Brotherhood had provided them. Danse in particular was a high-ranking paladin and so Arthur had organised the three of them with a room separate from the main bunkers.  
‘I think I’ll jus-‘ he began before Cutler interrupted him.  
‘Nuh-uh big fella, we’ve been trekking for two days, don’t tell me you don’t need a drink,’  
‘A couple of beers wouldn’t be bad,’ Danse conceded.  
Scout was glad, Cutler and Danse navigated the bowels of settlement with ease, she was going to have a hard time finding anywhere on her own. The Muddy Rudder was a typical dive, dim lights and the smell of stale booze but there was also music, people chatting and it was warm.  
Scout, Cutler and Danse all took seats at the far corner of the bar. They had a good view of the exit and everybody in the room. A bartender emerged from out the back of the bar and they ordered some beers.  
‘How long has it been since you were last here?’ Scout asked her companions. The bartender stayed annoyingly close, eyeing them suspiciously.  
‘Four years or so? Give or take,’ Danse replied, he seemed a little more relaxed now he was in civilian clothes. The bartender finally moved away to serve a man further down the bar.  
‘Gee, old Belle hasn’t changed has she?’ Cutler remarked before taking a long drink of beer.  
‘You know her?’ Scout was perplexed, the bartender hadn’t shown any sign of recognition.  
‘She isn’t exactly fond of the Brotherhood’s presence in Rivet City,’ Danse explained, ‘there’s no way she’d turn down good caps though,’.  
‘Seems like you’ve attracted a bit of the local talent,’ Cutler nudged Scout who turned her glance to where he nodded his head. The man the bartender had gone to serve was staring at Scout unapologetically. Scout frowned.  
‘Looks like he could be trouble,’ she muttered to Cutler and Danse who watched him carefully. She got the impression this was the kind of place that had seen more than its fair share of fights and if what Danse said was true, their presence might not be welcome here.  
The man got his drink from the bartender who, to be fair, didn’t seem to treat him with much courtesy either and started to walk over to them. Scout figured he was the mercenary type, he wore a long duster that had seen better days and a hat with a couple of bullets adorning it.  
‘What does your wife think about you approaching strangers in bars?’ Scout asked him before he could say anything to her. He opened his mouth briefly, as if to retort back but thought better of it. He looked down at his hand with the wedding ring on it. Scout took a sip of her beer while Cutler guffawed next to her.  
‘Actually, it’s about my wife that I came over to talk to you,’ he said to her. Scout was caught off guard but she simply cocked her head to the side to indicate she was listening. She could tell Cutler and Danse were listening in carefully too.  
‘See – she has one of those, erm, Pipboys you call em, too,’ he pointed to her arm where Scout had her trusty Pipboy. Scout raised her eyebrows but didn’t say anything in response. ‘Just thought you might have been from the same vault, she came here looking for her sister see, her name is Lucy,’  
Thank god she didn’t have any beer in her mouth otherwise she would have spit it out. Every ounce of training fought down her natural instinct to be shocked.  
‘I don’t come from a vault,’ she replied smoothly, ‘I picked this up on a sweep and retrieve, managed to get it working again,’ she shrugged. ‘Not that that’s any of your business,’ she added and went back to her beer.  
Cutler and Danse, having grown bored with the interaction, went back to their drinks and their own conversation. Scout watched as the man shuffled back down the other end of the bar, looking dejected.  
Could Lucy really be here? How did she get out of the vault? Her mind swam with questions, she longed to run after the man, demand he take her to Lucy but nobody in the Brotherhood except Arthur and the Outcasts knew she was from a vault and she certainly couldn’t blow her cover here.  
She drank her beer and continued chatting to Danse and Cutler as if nothing had happened but inside she was churning with mixed emotions. Somewhere, in Rivet City, was her sister and the man at the end of the bar was her husband. Once this man described Scout to Lucy she would know that it was in fact her and wonder why she is lying. Scout only had one option. She had to find Lucy before Lucy found her. 


	6. Chapter 6

Shaking Danse hadn’t been much a problem. Cutler was a whole other story. The man was still in the bar thankfully, a few shady characters came up to him for a chat or a game of pool, but Scout wasn’t sure what she would do if he left before she could rid herself of Cutler.   
‘You’ve risen pretty quickly for an Outcast you know,’ he told her, taking a thoughtful sip of the whiskey he’d recently upgraded to, ‘I’ve read Paladin Brandis’ reports on you and honestly was a little surprised we got posted here.’   
‘What do you mean?’ Scout snapped. Her nerves were getting the better of her. Cutler didn’t seem to notice thankfully.   
‘Well, maybe not so much me, but Danse is pretty high up, heard they were thinking of sending him with his own team to the ‘wealth.’ He lowed his voice and leaned in closer to Scout, ‘one might even think they stuck you with two Rivet City locals so you could do some digging,’ he whispered conspiratorially.   
Scout laughed, ‘what kind of digging would that be?’   
‘The Railroad, the Institute, Rivet City holds its fair share of secrets,’ he shrugged, he was getting a little drunk.   
‘I’ve never been before, I asked Ar – uh Elder Maxson if I could have a short posting here. I’ve never taken any leave but he didn’t want to risk one of his best soldiers, so I got a pretty sweet entourage, wouldn’t you say?’ she smiled up at him, hoping the flattery would distract him.   
‘Does Elder Maxson often fulfil your requests?’ he asked, his tone dripping with innuendo. Scout rolled her eyes.  
‘Guess that’s for me to know and for you to mind your own business about,’ she shut him down. Cutler raised his eyebrows and grinned.   
Out of the corner of her eye she could see the man who approached her earlier get up to leave. Scout had to act, and fast. Damn Cutler.   
She got up from her seat, pretending to sway a little.   
‘Bathroom,’ she muttered to Cutler who nodded.   
It wasn’t difficult, the floor was dirty with god knows what. Scout pretended to slip just as she passed the man on his way to leaving the bar. In an effort to stop herself from falling she instinctively clutched onto the back of his duster, which only succeeded in bringing him down with her.   
He hit the floor with a ‘hmmph,’ winded because he hadn’t expected the fall. Scrambling he turned around, ready to yell at whoever had caused him to fall.   
‘Follow my lead,’ Scout hissed at him, barely moving her lips. He scowled but kept his mouth shut.   
‘Oh my god, I’m so sorry,’ Scout said loudly, getting to her feet. The man started to get up too.   
‘Oh no, your poor ankle, it’s probably just a small strain,’ she made a show of helping him up, to his credit, he made a passable act of limping.  
‘Please, let me give you hand a home, it’s the least I can do,’ she offered to him.   
‘Uh yeah sure, that’d be great,’ he muttered, still clearly confused.   
‘Hey Scout, everything alright?’ Cutler had come over.   
‘Yeah, just a little unsteady on my feet. I’m just going to help him home seeing as I knocked him over,’ Scout explained, making her way out of the bar.   
‘Okay, will you be able to find your way back to the room?’ Cutler seemed a little unsure, but Scout could tell he had bought it. Thank god he’d been drinking.   
‘Yup yeah I’ll be fine,’ she called out to him before entering the corridor, the man immediately took a step away from her and they hurried away from the bar.   
‘What the hell?’ he threw at her.   
‘I’m sorry, but they can’t know who I really am,’ she told him, ‘Lucy is my sister, I am from the vault,’.   
The man stopped in his tracks, frowning.   
‘I need you to do something for me if you’re going to meet Lucy,’ he wouldn’t quite meet her eye.   
‘If I’m going to meet Lucy?’ Scout’s voice turned chilly.   
‘She thinks I’m a soldier,’ he admitted, his face going red. Scout put her hands on her hips and pursed her lips.   
‘You want me to lie for you?’ she put it bluntly. He shifted uncomfortably.   
‘I was going to join up next recruitment drive the Brotherhood had on but-’  
‘But what?’ Scout was getting increasingly annoyed. Who did this guy think he was?  
‘I couldn’t bear to be away from her, mercenary work means we get to be together and it’s better caps,’ he rubbed the back of his head nervously. Scout crossed her arms, considering.   
‘Fine,’ she huffed, ‘I’ll say you’re with the Brotherhood here,’   
‘Thanks,’ his shoulders sagged with relief and he started walking again, leading her to Lucy, ‘The name is Macready by the way, RJ Macready,’   
Scout rolled her eyes, _Lucy Macready_ , bet she hated that and smiled despite herself.   
They walked in silence, their footsteps echoing through the corridors. Scout had that ominous feeling of knowing she would remember these seemingly inane moments for a lifetime. Letting go of all her training, she allowed her emotions to rush through her. Her hands shook, and her heart felt like it could beat out of her chest.   
It probably hadn’t taken a long time for them to reach the room, but it had felt like they’d been walking in slow motion. Macready paused at the door, taking a deep breath before putting the key in the lock and opening it.   
‘Lucy,’ he called out, ‘I have a surprise for you,’ he was grinning from ear to ear, but Scout couldn’t bring herself to smile, instead feeling tears prick her eyes.   
The room was small, a modest kitchenette greeted them, a sofa and coffee table beyond that. In the far corner of the room, was a double bed.   
A blonde haired woman sitting up in bed with knitting looked up and blinked several times, as if her eyes were deceiving her.   
‘Scout,’ she said blearily, pulling back the covers and getting to her feet.   
Scout couldn’t move, tears were streaming down her face. Lucy was slow getting to her feet, her stomach protruding, stretching the simple shift dress she wore like a tent. Seeing Lucy heavily pregnant seemed to jolt Scout into action. Words still alluding her, Scout managed to start forward, stumbling at first but then managing to rush towards Lucy, throwing herself into her arms.   
‘Scout, I can’t believe it’s you,’ Lucy was crying too, her whole body shaking, ‘I never thought I’d see you again’.


	7. Chapter 7

Sitting on the lounge, all three of them with strong cups of tea, Lucy was still shaking her head in disbelief.   
‘They said that boy had stolen you,’ Lucy explained, ‘Macready said you might have been sold to slavers,’ she shivered.   
Scout put a comforting hand on Lucy’s knee. She felt horribly guilty.   
‘I wanted to go Lucy,’ Scout whispered, ‘I chose to leave,’   
‘I know,’ Lucy smiled up at her, tears still in her eyes, ‘Nobody would believe me, but I knew you had gone of your own volition.’   
A wave of relief swept over Scout. For years she’d felt horrible about leaving Lucy, not telling her where she had gone. Lucy had always known though, had always known who Scout was.   
‘So…they actually opened the vault?’ Scout changed the subject away from uncomfortable territory.   
‘A few months after you left – it was only a matter of time, just opened it for traders really. Nobody left, except me,’ she grinned at this. ‘Everyone thought I was crazy, thought I’d run into trouble as soon as I set foot outside the vault,’   
‘They weren’t exactly wrong,’ Macready interjected, rolling his eyes. Scout jumped a little, she’d almost forgotten he was there.   
‘I got pretty sick a day or so after leaving the vault,’ Lucy explained, ‘RJ here was the first person I met topside, he was on his way to Rivet City. He grew up in a place called Little Lamplight, no adults were allowed there so once they turned 16 they got kicked out,’   
‘Haven’t left her side since,’ Macready smiled, putting his arm around Lucy.   
‘I can’t believe you’re going to have a baby,’ Scout shook her head.  
‘I know, but you’ll be here for the birth won’t you? I only have a few weeks left,’   
‘Wouldn’t miss it for the world,’ Scout smiled, ‘I need you to do me favour though, I’m here with the Brotherhood of Steel,’ she swallowed and looked towards Macready, ‘I was given a posting here just like Knight Macready here,’ she fought the urge not to sound sarcastic. It felt so wrong lying to Lucy.   
‘Except my mission is top secret. Not even the Paladins I’m travelling with can know why I’m really here,’   
‘Can you tell me?’ Lucy looked her straight in the eye. Scout pursed her lips, looking between Lucy and Macready. She knew she could trust Lucy and she might even have information on Rivet City that could expedite her recon here. On the other hand, she didn’t know Macready. Of course, he wasn’t a real Brotherhood Knight, so it wasn’t like it would get back to her superiors. She settled for somewhere in the middle.   
‘Have either of you heard of a Dr. Madison Lee?’, Scout bit her bottom lip and waited for what she thought would be confused expressions and stammers of apology.   
Instead both Macready and Lucy nodded, a flash of recognition crossing their faces.   
‘Oh yeah, everyone knows about her,’ Lucy waved her hand flippantly, ‘She worked with your lot for awhile,’ she turned to Macready for validation. Macready was slow on the uptake.   
‘Wha- oh yeah of course. Before my time,’ he laughed weakly. Scout fought the urge to roll her eyes.   
‘She disappeared ages ago, why are the Brotherhood only looking for her now?’ Lucy frowned.   
Scout shrugged, she’d divulged enough for now she reasoned.   
‘Orders are orders,’ was all she said by way of explanation. Lucy looked troubled as they finished their tea and saw Scout out.   
It wasn’t much to go on, she thought, trying to find her way back to the Brotherhood quarters. She thought about going and speaking to the scientists that had worked with Lee, but they were all Brotherhood scientists now. If they had known anything, it would have been included in her brief. Besides, she didn’t particularly want people to know she was poking around asking questions about Dr Lee. Perhaps Lucy and Macready could be useful in that area.   
She turned down one of the many hallways spanning off the main one she was walking along, hoping it was the correct way. She knew she’d found her way back when she found Cutler waiting outside their room for her.   
‘Hey, I was getting worried,’ he walked up to meet her, he seemed a lot soberer now.   
‘Sorry, got distracted and wandered around for a bit,’ she was vague, liars always included too many details.   
If Cutler was suspicious he didn’t say anything, in fact there was an awkwardly long silence between them.   
‘Um, just going to have a shower before bed, do you know where they are?’ Scout broke the pause.   
Cutler sighed, he sounded resigned but whether because he knew she was lying or because of something else, Scout couldn’t tell. It was pretty late now and to be honest, she didn’t really care.   
When she finally rested her head that night she wasn’t sure if she was going to be able to sleep with everything that had taken place. It was certainly going to be a busy few weeks though. Not only did she already have a secret objective from the rest of the Brotherhood but also her relationship to Lucy to keep hidden as well. As if that thought alone was exhausting enough, Scout fell almost immediately into a deep slumber.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't have a beta reader but I've tried to edit as best I can. I also try to keep as close to canon as possible but obviously there will be slight deviations. If there's anything I've missed however, or something glaringly out of place that I haven't picked up on please let me know because I would like to edit it if possible. Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy!


End file.
